How reliable are Google Keyword Planner viewership stats?

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   RonElFranposted 6 years ago

   I've noticed something odd about the view stats for one of my hubs. It ranks 2nd in Google search for the relevant keyword, just behind the Wikipedia article on the subject. It's getting more than 1600 views a month, with almost 1000 coming from Google.
   
   But here's what's odd: Google Keyword Planner says that particular keyword is only averaging 260 searches per month. Since I'm getting almost 4 times that many views from Google myself, my search volume alone should be pushing that number up. So, why the discrepancy? Anybody know?
   
   What this shows me is that we shouldn't consider Keyword Planner stats to be gospel. And we certainly shouldn't decide to not write on a particular subject because Keyword Planner indicates the potential search volume is low.

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   1. 92

      MarleneBposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Very interesting! The result of the stats you use to make your point is the very reason I stopped relying on Google Keyword Planner. I don't think the planner is very reliable at all. As you point out, sometimes my view stats for HubPages are way higher for my hubs than the overall stats for the planner results. How is that possible? That's the question I asked myself a long time ago and then resolved that either I am missing something or the stats are wrong. I might be missing something, but now, I just go ahead and write content that I believe is valuable. The result is in the pudding (income).

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      1. 96

         RonElFranposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         I think you've got it exactly right, Marlene - write content you think will be valuable for readers, and let the views take care of themselves. Some of my articles that now get the most views would never have been written if projected traffic for that subject had been the deciding factor.

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2. 96

   DrMark1961posted 5 years ago

   Ron, you may be getting only 250 page views a month for that phrase. However, since your hubs are thorough, anytime a reader asks a question related to that subject, whatever it might be, your article is coming up for that search. So, you may get 250 here, another 250 for another phrase, another 500 on another, etc.
   You have probably had this happen to you when you search. You search for something, like the article that Google shows you, (even if the title is not what you are looking for) and go ahead and pull it up to read it.
   A few years ago I remember an SEO expert on the forums telling me that he would not even bother writing an article for a subject that was only searched 250 times a month. Well, most of my articles are in that category. I avoid that problem by using keyword tools (not just Googles) to find out all of the phrases people use when searching for a problem, and answering the questions that my readers have.

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   1. 96

      RonElFranposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Dr Mark, that sounds right. In fact, I'm kicking myself that I didn't think of it. I've often noted that many of the search terms that bring people to my articles are ones I'd never have thought of. I do like the idea of deliberately seeking to identify such terms and including them in the article. Thanks!

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